Harness



(No Model.)

A. SHERWOOD.

HARNESS.

No. 333,556. Patented Jan. 5, 1886.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ALLEN SHERWVOOD, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

HARNESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,556, dated January 5, 1886.

Application filed November 6, 1895. Serial No. 182,047. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLEN SHERWOOD, a citizen of the United States. residing at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harness,of which the followingis a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to that class of workharness which employs a yoke supported beneath the horses, and connected by short traces to the hames, and serving for the connection of the draft-chain between the horses, thereby dispensing with the use of ordinary traces, rendering the control of plows much easier, and obviatinginjury to sh rubbery and trees by outside traces and projecting single'trees, providing a harness which is as well adapted for use in connection with wagons, sleighs, stone boats, and drags, as well as other vehicles; and my invention consists in certain features of construction of the yoke, consisting of a single piece ofsteel carrying an evener-chain and pulley duly inclosed, as hereinafter described, and the novel features of which are specially set forth in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a perspective View of the yoke carrying evener traces and pulley, forming the main parts .of the harness. Fig. 2 is a perspective ofa por tion of one end of the yoke, a portion of one end of the chain-traces, aportion of the backstrap, and its snap-buckle hooked to the end of said yoke. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the yoke, its pulley, and cap-plate at the point where it is united to the middle of the yoke. Fig. 4 is a top view of the central portion of the yoke, its pulley, and capplate.

, In said drawings, the yoke is represented at A. It is made of spring-steel, arched upward in the center and in the opposite direction on each side thereof, and properly tempered,and on top of the arch is secured the draw-plate B by means of rivets b, and also of the bolt b, that furthermore forms the journal for the evener-pulley B", and fastens thehandle b on top of the draw-plate. This draw-plate forms also the cap for the evener-pulley B, and may be provided with a single ring or eye on the rear side, as shown in Fig. 4, to receive one end of a dra ft-chain,whereby means of connection with various implements are provided; but I prefer to provide the drawplate with a horizontal bar, 12'', havingseries of notchesb, to receive the end link or the book of a draftchain,either directly in the rear of the center of the yoke or on either side thereof, to give one horse some advantage over the other.

To prevent chafing of the horse against the metal of the yoke, the concave side of the latter is lined either with wood, leather, felt, or .r-ubber F, secured thereto by rivets f.

To connect the yoke with the supporting back-strap G, and with the short traces H, an eye, K, is formed in each end of said yoke by cutting the metal of said yokeand separatingit therefrom on three sides of said eye, but leav-' ing the bottom portion uncut, and bending it outwardly at that point to form a tongue, it, of sufficientsize and strength for the trace-links H to engage with. To retain said links upon the tongue is, a perforation, I5, is made to receive a pin or split key, It, in front of the links H. This kind of eye and tongue may also be formed upon the ends of the curved single-trees shown in my patent of December 16, 188;.

To connect the back-strap G with the eyes K, said strap is provided at one end with a buckle, L, having two cross-bars, Z and 1', around which the end of the back-strap is secured by passing it first in front of the bar Z and then under the bar I, and up again to a point slightly higher than the bar l, to which it is secured by the front bar, Z and screws Z at each end of the latter. The lower end of the buckle is in the form of ahook, L, andin front of said hook the spring-bolt L is retained at the lower end between the branches 1* of the frame of the buckle,while its upper end passes loosely through an arm, 2 projecting forward from the bar I". The middle portion of the bolt L is bent to form a hooked handle, L to withdraw the bolt from itsrest upon the hook L, and extending up from said handle is a stem, around which the spring I is coiled and abuts against the arm Z of the front bar of the buckle.

To guard against the loss of the split key,the latter is permanently attached by means of the chain k to a perforated lug upon the buckle.

The opposite end of the backstrap G may also be provided with a snap-hook or buckle, as L, to connect it to the rings I), permanently secured to the yoke by the hooked lugs b projecting laterally from the cap or draw-plate B; but an ordinarynarrow leather strap and buckle fastened to the inner end of the backstrap G will answer the purpose required, as it is seldom necessary to disconnect both ends of the back-strap from the yoke.

To connect theinner end of the back-strap to the yoke,the end of the abovestated narrow leather strap is easily passed under and through the ring b, as saidring is retained loosely by the hooked lugs I) of the draw-plate and can be turned on its edge for that purpose.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim- 1. In combination with the yoke A,the drawplate B, provided with a bar, I), having a series of notches, b, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of a steel yoke, consisting of a single bar of metal bent centrally in the form of an arch, with inverted arches on each side thereof, with a pulley upon the central arch, and a combined cap and draw-plate, substantially and for the purpose described.

3. The combination of a yoke having an eye cut out at each end, and a tongue, 7c, projecting outwardly therefrom,with traces engaged therewith, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a yoke having an eye at each end with the back'strap G and buckle L, having a hook and spring-bolt, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. The combination of a yoke having projecting therefrom a tongue, k, perforated at k, a pin, is", therein, a back-strap, a buckle provided with a spring-bolt, and a chain connecting said buckle within the pin k substantially as and for the purpose described.

6. The combination of a yoke, consisting of a singlet-rec bar bent centrally in the form of an arch, with a pulley upon said arch, and a combined cap and drawplate provided with lugs Z2 and rings b", substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signat-u re in presence of two witnesses.

ALLEN SHERWOOD.

\Vitnesses:

L. ME. PEDLEY, \VM. SNODGRASS. 

